[saraface]

please read all of this before offering suggestions, because i've tried a lot of stuff, and posted this on several forums, and most of the responses i got were people suggesting stuff i've already tried.

that being said...

i am getting this error in two forms.

one, when i check my dxdiag, or try and run Windows Movie Maker.

i get an error reading:

"C:\Windows\SysWOW64\d3d10core.dll is either not designed to run on windows or it contains an error. Try installing the program again using the original installation media or contact your system administrator or software vendor for support."

also, i get a very similar error when trying to run certain games from my Steam account.

but this error reads ""C:\Windows\System32\d3d10core.dll is either not designed to run on windows or it contains an error. Try installing the program again using the original installation media or contact your system administrator or software vendor for support.""

so the same file, in two separate folders is broken.

i first noticed this problem 2 weeks ago, all games and all programs ran fine before this date, with no errors whatsoever. also, Windows 7 provided quite a big update about 2 days before i noticed this problem, so i am wondering if that update might be the cause of all this?

all my restore points before february 23rd seem to be broken, and as of this morning aren't even showing up at all.

my latest restore point is now march 6th, which is long after this error began appearing.

i have tried reinstalling directx by running the full set up again, everything copied fine, but did not fix the error.

i have tried manually replacing the .dll file with a new one in the system32 folder, but that didn't fix it, and i do not have permission to write in my syswow64 folder.

i have also tried cleaning my registry, which did not work either.

from the tips i've read following any of those three steps should do the trick, but nothing helped.

i even tried updating to service pack 1, which didn't change a thing.

this is becoming very frustrating because it's two programs i use frequently.

all i can think to do now is back everything up and f-disk, but that is a job i really rather not do unless it is the ONLY hope, and i know it's not.

so any and all help would be appreciated.

thank you.